Week 7: Site Specific at the Happiest Place on Earth

For my site specific blog post, I decided to spend some time in Downtown Disney.  I often assume that anything Disney-related is often incredibly well-designed  because of the theme park, where many details are cohesive to the fun, family-oriented environment that Disney hopes to portray. Downtown Disney is an interesting venue because it still contains components of Disney, but is also attached to outside businesses.  In regards to the lighting design in Downtown Disney, I was actually surprised by how simplistic it actually is. Most of the lighting in the venue's environment is strands of lights that are wrapped around trees and the perimeter of buildings. The lamp posts are also very neutral in color and architectural design, and this picture encapsulates the majority of what I saw while at the venue. I feel that the designer was hoping to communicate a sense of community, wonder, and beauty, and I feel that the designer's use of strand lights really opened up the environment. The lighting did not feel over-bearing in any way, but ultimately enhanced my feelings of excitement to be at Downtown Disney with my friends. The twinkle of the lights also aided in portraying a sense of wonder, warmth, excitement, and cleanliness to the environment, and for these reasons, I feel that the design was effective even though it was surprisingly simplistic.

The picture of Jamba Juice, to the right, is an example of ineffective design. Because Jamba Juice is known for its smoothies and freshly squeezed juices, I expected the lighting to aid in communicating a sense of cleanliness and simplicity, however, I felt that the low-hanging lights made the environment seem cluttered, and with people inside, a bit overwhelming to enter. I also felt that the shape of the fixtures did not match the construction design, and felt that there were too many of these lights hanging in one area of the store, and that they were too small. I believe the design was attempting to communicate a sense of cleanliness and friendliness, but upon entering the space, I solely felt overwhelmed by the low hanging fixtures combined with the amount of people.




I also visited the Lego Store, and noticed immediately that the lighting evoked a sense of excitement and youth that Lego might be hoping to portray as it caters to children and Lego lovers of all kind. I believe that this is a really effective use of lights, because they are bright, and light up every part of the store. It is not overwhelming in brilliance, but rather, allows people to see small lego pieces-the variety of colors and shapes of the legos with ease. The fixtures are sleek and creatively placed, which I feel allows the store to communicate a sense of ingenuity/ inventiveness.